I can gurantee you that attendance by many trainers at Keeneland will be down this fall. It makes no sense to prep for the BC over a surface like that. All Keeneland has done is help the Belmont fall meet out!! Keeneland will take a hammering in the handle. Lets see how many tracks wanna switch when Keeneland takes a beating in the handle.
Its a text book marketing scam, thats all this stuff is. The playbook goes like this:
1) Seize on the issues that its all about horses health and play on tragedies to try and use them to your advantage. Make out any trainer who says he doesnt like it to be in the same league as a molester, make any opponents of the stuff afraid to speak out lest they be labeled bad guys who don't care about horses health.
2) Hammer home to tracks that after they spend the initial ten million that maintenance costs will be minimal and save them money in the long run.(The fact that supposedly Turfway had to really work on the stuff this summer isn't spoken about) Don't explain to the track execs that many players(who support the tracks with handle) won't wanna play races on the stuff.
3) Rally around the fact that crippled horses who shouldnt be running in the first place can now make twice as many starts on the stuff and fill cards.
4) Don't make any mention of the fact that the jocks absolutely hate this stuff and because of it the races can set up very unorthodox. The agent of a LEADING Kentucky rider told me his kid hates the stuff. Says it hurts when it kicks back at you. Its why the races on the stuff look like parades with the horses all strung out, the jocks wanna be in the clear and out of the path of the kickback.